This invention relates to a method for separating packages, especially blister packages, that are initially interconnected with a strip or sheet of lidstock material.
A conventional manner of packaging various items, including contact lenses, is in so-called "blister packages". Such packages include a recess designed to hold the item, and the recess is covered with lidstock. In the case of contact lenses, the recess is typically designed to hold an individual lens, with the lens usually being immersed in a saline solution. The packages are then enclosed and sealed with a lidstock, one example being a flexible laminate including a layer of a metal such as aluminum. Frequently, multiple blister packages of contact lenses are then enclosed in a secondary carton, for example, a paperboard box designed to hold a predetermined number of blister packages in a predetermined arrangement.
In manufacturing and assembling packages, it may be desirable to enclose several packages with the same strip or sheet of lidstock, following by severing the lidstock at predetermined locations so to divide the packages and lidstock into smaller segments. One manner of severing the lidstock is with a cutting knife. The present invention provides an improved method of separating the lidstock interconnecting multiple packages that does not rely on a cutting knife.